Events

So the Keep Albany Boring x Marketplace Gallery x Deep Children New Year’s Eve party went off with out a single hitch.

I woke up, got the photo booth packed up, our dj stuff packed up and headed over to the gallery at six. We set up, sound checked and then waited. I legitimately didn’t know whether people were going to show up, and right at nine there were groups of people heading in. After thirty more minutes, even more people kept flowing in and by when I started my dj set at ten there were people all over.The photobooth was getting used a ton by passers by, which is awesome that I didn’t have to tend to it all night. Mine and Duncan’s sets went great all things considered. Deep Children went on at eleven and absolutely murdered the room. Scott and Ryan were on fire and the dance floor definitely agreed. I really can’t state how amazing the set they played was, but those there can attest as I had overheard at least four pairs of people conversing about things such as “who are these guys and why don’t I know them” and “holy fuck these djs are so good”. The countdown was fun (of course) and there was plenty of champagne and confetti to go around. At that point it was wall to wall people, and they were going hard for about another two hours. Cops eventually came as things were getting close to wrapping up anyway and didn’t give us any shit.

Everything was awesome and everyone had an awesome night.

I can’t thank Samson for allowing this to happen as well as Scotty and Ryan for ripping everyone’s faces off with such good tunes. And I can’t thank everyone who came and had fun with us!

The photo booth was a blast.

Especially when it caught things like this:

And once people were packed in there was no way to have enough room for the booth, so I hopped around with the camera and got a good representation of the mood in the room.

Big shout out to Ron for being the sober dude who voluntarily drove around all the drunks!

The hallway outside the party alone was nuttier than some parties I’ve been to.

Too many broken up house parties right as it was getting fun. Too many shitty venues with shitty music charging $10 covers and making you suffer through that same played out song. This is thrown by your friends and the money will go to keeping the gallery running, this website hosted, and getting Deep Children their own sound system; not some dickheads venue owner’s BMW payment. You owe it to yourself to come support your friends and have the best New Years possible!

It wouldn’t be without the help of The Marketplace Gallery and Deep Children that this would be possible. Do yourself a favor and click those links and see what they’re about if you don’t know!

Pretty Lights headlined at the Washington Avenue Armory on Saturday night. I spent $26 on a ticket (plus an additional $5 in fees) and went with a group of friends. None of us were particularly familiar with Pretty Lights, or even the genre, and we didn’t quite know to expect.

To do my homework, I listened to as much Pretty Lights as I could the night before to try and familiarize myself with his work. Pretty Lights consists of DJ Derek Vincent Smith, who has been in the electronic music scene since 2006. On Saturday, drummer Adam Deitch accompanied him. Nothing I found online, however, could prepare me for the actual experience.

Due to the difficulties of wrangling cab rides for a large group of people (did anyone actually drive to the event?); I arrived late and missed opening acts Michal Menert and Chali 2na. However, the crowd seemed to love them. I arrived as the second act was finishing and there was already a swarming pit of dance and emotion. The collective state of mind could be described as altered, to say the least. Many fans rolled into the Armory ready to be taken over by the music. That is, those that didn’t have to wade through the immense blob of people waiting at the will-call line.

A thick haze of smoke hovered lazily over the mob of fans and helped enhance the dreamlike quality of the lightshow that was melting faces left and right. Lasers shot everywhere, illuminating the entire room. Behind Smith, a large LCD screen constantly assaulted viewers with continuously morphing images of abstract designs and colors. Strobe lights flashed in machine-gun bursts of radiance. In the pit itself, glow sticks and other flashing accessories cut through the darkness and helped to integrate fans into the spectacle. Clusters of people banded together, passed around water bottles, and let themselves be carried away.

Smith himself maintained a relatively low-key presence. He didn’t speak much, except to occasionally urge the crowd to cheer. Despite the heat from the lights, he kept his hood on throughout the performance. His calm demeanor on stage stood in stark contrast to the zoo below.

The music could be described as a soulful and intense dance party. A constant thumping beat progressed throughout the performance, highlighted by Adam Deitch’s live percussion. The inclusion of a real drummer, rather than a recorded beat, gave the show a fluidity and naturalness that lent itself well to the expressive nature of the visuals. It was like being consumed by a living, breathing, glowing organism. The collective bodies of the listeners in the crowd swayed and grooved in time with the fat and even funky sounds produced by Smith.

The event transpired relatively hassle free. As far as I was aware, there were no serious fights or any other forms of static. I did see a dazed and frightened young hippie hurry out of the arena with a comatose girl slumped over his shoulder. I hope she’s okay.

At the end of the set, the crowed erupted in a loving rush of gratitude. Smith returned for his encore, apparently impressed by the applause. “Damn, Albany,” he drawled, cigarette in hand. That seemed to be enough for him, however, and he finished off the night with an “Empire State of Mind” and “Juicy” mash up that was definitely a crowd pleaser.

After the show, the crowd poured out onto the street and commenced a fierce battle over the cabs that began swarming the venue. Fans dispersed in small groups, their ears still ringing from the deafening display of phatness they had just ingested.

[tweetmeme] Busy Mr. Patrick “sent along” these photos he took at the Biergarten. Looks like there was a ton of beer to be drank and food to be eaten. Not to mention a fair allocation of females in silly little outfits for the copious amout of weirdo dudes to ogle over.

[tweetmeme]From a distance, it looked like what one would expect of the annual Albany event LarkFEST: a monstrous mob of people, a clash of colors and a mash-up of movement. But something about this crowd was peculiar.

On the brim of the sea of people gathered on Hudson Ave, one tall individual distinctly stood out. His arms were thrashing about in the air, and he was rocking out to some music inaudible to our ears. As we approached closer to this guy, who was certainly not worried about drawing attention to himself, it became quite obvious that he wasn’t dancing alone. He was delightfully accompanied by a large slew of people dancing, strangers and friends alike. What is puzzling, though, about this seemingly-random spectacle of people dancing was that to the non-participant there was no music to be heard.

These attendees of LarkFEST were eagerly engaged in an event known as a silent disco. The concept is simple: wear a pair of wireless head phones, rock out.

On the stage were a handful of DJs broadcasting their beats through a speaker system where the sound waves are picked up via an FM transmitter and then picked up by headphones. It becomes part of what feels like an inside joke or some unstated understanding that those wearing the headphones are there to get down, dancing as if they were at a raging concert. Because, well, beneath those ear buds, they are. On the contrary, to the outsider, it looks as if people are dancing to nothing. Which is awesome.

The exclusiveness of the event made it all the more intriguing to watch and more fun to be dancing along. Smiles plastered pretty much every face as far as I could see as people danced, completely carefree and blissfully unaware of the world void of music beyond the headphones.